A woman who let her Staffordshire Bull Terrier starve to death and left another fighting for its life has been jailed for 150 days.

Michelle Porter, 20, was sentenced at Whitehaven Magistrates’ Court for four counts of animal cruelty on the two dogs.

She was also banned from keeping animals for life.

Porter admitted causing unnecessary suffering to both dogs, failing to provide an adequate diet and failing to seek appropriate veterinary care for the dogs’ weight loss between September 18 and October 10, 2008.

RSPCA officers found the carcass of five-year-old Zelda, when they went to her Priory Drive home in Cleator Moor. Zelda’s son, one-year-old Diesel, was also found underweight.

It is believed both dogs had been left to starve for three weeks, despite a large bag of open dog food and six tins of dog food being only two metres away from the cages the dogs were kept in.

Peter Sharp, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told the court that Zelda’s hips, ribs and spine were clearly visible when she was found by an RSPCA inspector and the floor was sodden with urine.

The court also heard how the mother-of-two fraudulently cashed in a cheque worth £97.21 at Wath Brow post office, which she stole from her mother’s handbag.

Presiding magistrate David Wilson told Porter the offences were so serious that only custody could be justified.

She was sentenced to serve 120 days in a young offenders institute for each of the four animal cruelty charges, to run concurrently.

She was also sentenced to 30 days for the fraud charge and 30 days for failing to surrender, which will also run concurrently.

Diesel – now known as Murphy – has since been rehomed with a Broughton Moor family. He has regained his weight and loves being taken on walks and playing in the house and garden.